Blake Bozeman: Another arrest made in 2023 murder of former MSU basketball player
Credit: Carroll Smith
WASHINGTON, D.C. - A deadly shooting inside a D.C. nightclub claimed the life of a father and former college basketball player star back in 2023, and now a second man is being charged with his murder.
What we know:
On Thursday, 43-year-old Frank Johnson Jr. was arrested and charged with first-degree murder for the death of Blake Bozeman.
The backstory:
Three men and one woman were struck by gunfire when shots were fired inside Cru Lounge and Hookah Bar on H Street just before midnight on September 23, 2023.
The deceased victim was identified as 31-year-old Blake Bozeman, who was known in the region as a star Morgan State basketball player and the son of a winning coach. He was also a husband and father to three young children.
FOX 5 DC also learned Bozeman served as a leader in the community, having started a non-profit that worked to help athletes find their careers if pro basketball was not for them.
In March 2025, 44-year-old Cotey Wynn and 41-year-old Antwan Shelton were arrested and charged with murder. However, charges were dropped against Shelton a month later.
Charges dropped against man formerly accused in DC shooting that killed Blake Bozeman
One of two men charged in a deadly shooting inside a D.C. nightclub that claimed the life of former college basketball standout Blake Bozeman is speaking out to FOX 5 now that he's a free man.
What they're saying:
In April 2025, Shelton spoke with FOX 5 DC after a judge released him from custody on the request of federal prosecutors.
He says he was released because he wasn't at the nightclub on the night of the shooting, and that he wasn't the man seen in the surveillance images that were part of the investigation.
"Just trying to get my life back in order," Shelton told FOX 5. "It was very devastating to me to be snatched from my job and put on the news and accused of a heinous crime like that. You know what I'm saying. It's like everywhere I go, people are looking at me two or three times, and they feel like they know me because they see me on the news, but you know that wasn't me."
The Source: Information from this article was sourced from the Metropolitan Police Department and previous reporting by FOX 5 DC.